Process of making fibrous material



Patented May 19, 1925.

UNITED STATES ALBERT L. CLAPP, OF DANVERS, MASSACHUSETTS.

PROCESS OF MAKING FIBROUS MATERIAL.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT L. CLAPP, a citizen of the United States, residing at Danvers, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Processes of Making Fibrous Materials, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to the manufacture of felt and kindred products in which animal hair is employed as one of the component materials.

In the process of producing felt suitable for gun wads, in which the final product must possess certain characteristics hereinafter referred to, I employ a certain proportion of animal hair, e. g., the hair of cattle as obtained from tanneries',.but I have experienced much trouble in its use, due to the fact that. when wet, the hair decomposes and the stench is so intolerable as to become a nuisance. The component materials of the felt are, according to my process, subjected to a beating or disintegrating operation in a beating engine and are then flowed onto the cylinder of a wet machine and the web is built up to the desired caliper on a makeup roll. WVhen the furnish remains overnight or for any time in the beater engine, the hair decomposes quickly, and the resulting stench, as I have stated, renders the use of hair practically prohibitive.

After prolonging experimentation, I have I discovered that it is possible to prevent or retard the rotting or decomposition of the hair and thus to eliminate any disagreeable odors, even when the hair remains in the beater for an considerable time. This is accomplished I) nish, preferably when in the beater engine, a phenolic material, such, for example, as crude carbolic acid or its equivalent. In making the felt, I employ, for example, parts by weight of animalhair (goat or cow hair) and 40 parts by weight of cotton linters. i. e., short cot-ton fiber. The cotton is first placed in the beater with sulficientwater to ensure" its circulation. The mass is then beaten for about two to three hours, and then the hair is introduced, the beater roll being lifted from the bed (plate, in order that the hair will be separate into its individual fibers without bein cut and be thoroughly intermixed with t e cotton.

At about the same time that the hair is u y introducing into the fur Application filed October 4, 1920. Serial No. 414,505.

placed in the beater, I add to every thousand pounds of the mixture of hair and cotton (dry weight) about a half a gallon or a gallon of crude carbolic acid solution (about 30% strength). The amount of the acid solution is varied in accordance with the condition of the hair when introduced into the beater engine.v If it shows signs of decomposition, I use a gallon of the acid solution to each thousand pounds of the mixture of hair and cotton; otherwise, a smaller proportion of the acid is employed. Carbolic acid is inert in respect of cotton, and the proportions em loyed are so small as not to affect the en product. It acts as a preservative of the hair, preventing its decomposition and the formation of thegelatinous mass which results from decomposition. Since the decomposition is eliminated, it logicall follows that the stench resulting there rom is prevented. Without the useof a suitable preservative, the products of decomposition of animal hair have the tendency to produce a hard non-resilient felt.

In the manufacture of gun wads, it is necessary to produce a resilient sheet, which, by compression of ten pounds per square inch to 90% of its original thickness, will, on removal of the pressure, spring back to 96% to 99% of its original thickness. The material, as described herein, possesses this characteristic, when made into gun wads.

It is evident that my process is not limited to any particular kind of hair, as wool, or other animal fiber which is subject to decomposition when wet, may be substituted for cow hair. Nor is the inventionbroadly considered limited to the specific proportions of ingredients herein mentioned, nor to the use of any specific fibrous base, such ascotton, as other stock suitable for the purpose may be substituted for the cotton.

Referring once more to the material herein described and to its applicability for use in the manufacture of gun wads, it has the property, after being compressed in the shell, of expanding sufiiciently, when released from theshell by the expansion of the gases resulting from the explosion of the charge, to engage the walls of the barrel and prevent the gases from escapin past it. If the gases should escape past t e wad, the velocity of the shot is retarded, and what is known as balling results, with the formation of an imperfect pattern.

In the present case, the gun wad, produced by stamping disks from the sheet herein described, differs from all other gun wads heretofore practically produced, in that it consists of laminae of fibrous material interlocked together, whereas heretofore wads have been produced by felting together hair and wool fibers, such as ordinarily employed in making wool felt. In my case, the material is produced by a wet machine and the thin webs flowed onto the cylinder and built up on a make-up roll, and forms a composite sheet in which lamina are interlocked to gether, while water is contained in the fibrous mass. So far as I am aware, no one has ever heretofore produced a practical or successful gun wad material by the use of a wet machine. In my case, after the tubular or cylindrical shell of laminated fibrous material is built up to the desired caliper, it is stripped from the roll in wet form, and then dried flat after being pressed to squeeze outthe water. The pressing not only squeezes out the water, but further assists in causing the interlockin of the laminations. After the sheet is dried, it is calendered to give it a smooth finish.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. A process of making fibrous material containing hair, which comprises beating or disintegrating and intimately mixing animal hair and other fibrous material in water to' gether with a preservative which prevents or retards the decomposition of the hair.

2. A process of making a fibrous sheet material suitable for gun wads, which comprises beating or disintegrating a vegetable fibrous material in water, then adding animal hair thereto and mixing the same therewith without materially cutting the hair, addin a preservative to retard or prevent the cocomposition of the hair, and finally forming the fibrous mixture into a sheet.

A process of making fibrous material containing hair, which comprises beating or disintegrating and intimately mixing animal hair and other fibrous material in water together with a phenolic material capable of preventing or retarding the decomposition of the hair.

4. A process of making fibrous material containing hair, which comprises beating or disintegrating and intimately mixing animal hair and other fibrous material in water together with a carbolic acid solution.

5. A process of making fibrous sheet matcrial suitable for gun wads, which comprises beating or disintegrating. approximately sixty parts by weight of cotton in sufiicient water to permit circulation of the mass, then adding to and mixing therewith .about forty parts by weight of animal hair,

together with sutficient carbolic acid to prevent or retard decomposition of the hair. and finally forming the rsultant fibrous mass into a sheet.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature.

ALBERT L. CLAPI. 

